Kenyan President William Ruto and Donald Trump, during the signing ceremony of the peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, on December 4, 2025. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP
On Thursday, December 4, Kenya became the first state in Africa – and more broadly, in the Global South – to sign a bilateral health agreement with Donald Trump's United States. The text, initiated in Washington by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Kenyan President William Ruto, was also the first of its kind since the dissolution of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in February.
The agreement provided for the US to allocate more than $1.6 billion (€1.37 billion) to the Kenyan health system over five years to fight AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and polio. Kenya would contribute an additional $850 million and committed, in the long run, to shouldering greater financial responsibility, according to the US State Department.
Kenya is among the few African countries favorably viewed in Washington. Nairobi, in particular, earned the US's respect by leading the multinational security support mission in Haiti, a Caribbean country devastated by gang violence.
